The 47-year-old country star was enjoying an afternoon with friends on Sunday (May 19) when he came across the message someone sent to him via Twitter, which suggested, "Leave country to the white folk." The flabbergasted singer replied to that by tweeting back, "WOW. Is this 2013 or 1913?" He added, “Ill take my grand ole Opry membership and leave your racism. Wow.”

Rucker tells USA Today that he knew he was being baited, but felt compelled to respond anyway. "I read a couple of his tweets and was like, 'This guy's a real racist; he ain't kidding,'" he relates. "I was like, 'I have to expose this idiot.'

The singer observes, "We think we've come such a long way, and there's always somebody that wants to take a step back."

Rucker shot to international superstardom as the frontman for Hootie and the Blowfish before making the jump into country music. He released his third country album on Tuesday (May 21), and his cover of Old Crow Medicine Show's 'Wagon Wheel' is already a smash hit. He's had five No. 1 country hits and is a member of the Grand Ole Opry. The singer admits he's encountered racism from time to time all along the way, but says he tries to shrug it off.

"But people get drunk or think they can say anything they want on Twitter and nothing's going to happen. They're all cowards," he states. "They want to hide behind the keyboard and call their friends and say, 'Look what I said to Darius Rucker.'"

He adds, "I don't let it bother me. It happens, and I've just got to let it go. It's not like it's holding me back from having success."

Rucker succeeded in exposing the racist tweeter, too; that profile was deleted shortly thereafter and has now been taken over, with a new message that reads, "This previously racist profile has been re-registered to promote good things & not hatred. I am not the original one who made a racist comment to Darius Rucker."

Rucker is currently embarked on a summer tour that will run through the end of June.